GENERAL DYNAMICS “THREATENS” WORKERS: NLRB officials charged one of the largest beneficiaries of government contracts, General Dynamics, with unfair labor practices, Bloomberg Law reports. “The complaints, which will be heard by an administrative law judge, are the latest skirmishes in an ongoing feud between General Dynamics and the [Communications Workers of America] over efforts to unionize call center workers across the country,” writes Chris Opfer. “The union says the company has used illegal tactics—like threatening workers and telling them the CWA doesn’t have the power to negotiate higher pay rates—to resist labor organizing.” More here.

USW TO STRIKE?: “The United Steelworkers and United States Steel Corp. have not settled their ongoing labor dispute, and, despite post-deadline negotiations, talk of a strike is on the table,” Mike Larson reports in the Pittsburgh Business Times. “On Saturday night, just hours before the two entities' current contract expired, U.S. Steel released a statement saying the two sides would continue to work together as they negotiated a new contract.”

U.S. Steel and the USW agreed to an extension of negotiations originally scheduled to expire on Sept. 1. But according to Larson, “While the extension should buy both sides some time, after three months of negotiations, the two sides are still far from a deal.” Union leaders have asked members to schedule some strike authorization votes for today, according to Larson. More here.

JOINT EMPLOYER BILL: Rep. Steve Chabot (R-Ohio) introduced a bill Tuesday to bar franchisers from being classified as a joint employer — and therefore liable for labor violations by its franchisees and contractors — if its actions enforce trademark protection standards. The bill would update the Trademark Act of 1946, clarifying that enforcing trademark standards "may not be construed as establishing an employment or principal-agent relationship between the owner of the mark and the related company."

Business groups have been pushing Congress to rewrite the standard for joint employment as defined by the National Labor Relations Board ever since the Obama board ruled that franchisers need exercise only indirect control over franchisees to be held liable. More from POLITICO’s Ian Kullgren here.

PUSHBACK OVER ICE FUNDING: A coalition of pro-immigration groups will send out a letter today to congressional leaders demanding that they freeze funding for immigration detention. The letter, spearheaded by the non-profit National Immigrant Justice Center and Detention Watch Network, argues that detention funding has increased 28 percent since fiscal year 2016. As of mid-August, ICE counted an average daily detention population of 41,896, which exceeds the 40,520 average funded by congressional appropriations.

A recent DHS reprogramming notice provided to Morning Shift by advocates showed a $93 million boost in funding for ICE detention and a $107 million increase in funding for transportation and removal. The redirected funds came from a variety of DHS accounts, including $23 million intended for border fencing, infrastructure and technology. Other reprogrammed funds included nearly $10 million from FEMA and $29 million from the Coast Guard. Read the letter here and the reprogramming notice here.

GOFUNDME BREAKS $80K FOR DREAMERS: GoFundMe and the pro-immigration advocacy group, FWD.Us, has raised more than $80,000 to help recipients for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program pay the $495 application fee for DACA renewal, according to a press release provided to Morning Shift. The 800,000 DACA participants are required to renew their application every two years. More on the fundraising here.

MIGRANTS PREPARE FOR LIFE POST-DEPORTATION: The Consulate of Mexico in Dallas is advising undocumented immigrants on how to protect their assets in case of deportation, Javier Giribet-Vargas writes for Dallas News. Mexican officials say opening a U.S. bank account, preparing power of attorney documents, and applying their children for dual citizenship will help Mexican citizens mitigate disruptions from deportation of family members.

From Jan. 1 through Aug. 31, the consulate processed 2,699 dual citizenship applications, the Dallas News reports, up from 977 in 2016 and 2,474 in 2017. "If you're planning on returning to Mexico, do it with full benefits. Enter Mexico as a Mexican citizen, not as a foreigner, so you can access the services offered by the Mexican government, including health care, education and needs-based family support," officials told Giribet-Vargas, more here.

IOWA EMPLOYERS STILL PROVIDE HEALTH INSURANCE: “Iowa employers, who provide health insurance to more than half of all Iowans, aren't dropping the benefit, despite facing a series of steep premium increases, a new study shows,” Tony Leys reports for the Des Moines Register. “On average, Iowa employers faced premium increases of 8.4 percent for 2018, according to the new survey by consultant David P. Lind.”

“Iowa employers with fewer than 50 employees faced increases of more than 12 percent. Those employers are not required to offer health insurance, unlike larger companies. But none of the 1,001 Iowa employers who participated in Lind’s annual survey reported they had quit offering coverage,” More here.

VA PAPERS TO UNIONIZE: Reporters at the Virginian-Pilot and the Daily Press are moving to unionize after consolidation of the two papers and reports that their Chicago-based parent company, Tronc, is looking to unload its newspapers onto a private equity firm. “No one – neither Pulitzer Prize winner nor the newest hire – is safe in Tronc’s quest for ever higher profit margins, even as executive compensation continues to grow,” the newly-formed Tidewater Media Guild said in a statement posted to its website.

Reporters at the Virginia papers have begun to signs cards authorizing representation by the NewsGuild, part of the Communication Workers of America, which represents major papers such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times. They join a growing trend of unionization at news organizations, including the New Yorker, Vox Media, and others. More from NPR here, and more on efforts at the Pilot and Daily Press here.

MORE OF THE MIDDLE CLASS ON WELFARE: Stagnant wage growth may be causing more middle class families to rely on welfare, a new report from Brookings says. The share of welfare benefits going to the middle class (defined as the middle 60% of the income distribution) has more than doubled since 1979, according to the report.

While policy reforms such as expansion of Medicaid eligibility may explain much of the change, “the greater share of these means-tested benefits going to those somewhat higher up the income ladder may reflect broader economic trends in term of inequality, or higher costs in some sectors (e.g.. for Medicaid),” write Richard Reeves and Christopher Pulliam. Read the report here.

COFFEE BREAK:

— “Athletes Put NCAA Back in Hot Seat in Push to Undo Pay Limits,” from Bloomberg

Follow us on Twitter

Follow Us

About The Author : Rebecca Rainey

Rebecca Rainey is an employment and immigration reporter with POLITICO Pro and the author of the Morning Shift newsletter.

Prior to joining POLITICO in August 2018, Rainey covered the Occupational Safety and Health administration and regulatory reform on Capitol Hill. Her work has been published by The Washington Post and the Associated Press, among other outlets.

Rainey holds a bachelor’s degree from the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland.

She was born and raised on the eastern shore of Maryland and grew up 30 minutes from the beach. She loves to camp, hike and be by the water whenever she can.